Waivering Tests

Well, as was predicted years ago, the Department of Education will begin issuing waivers to schools so they don’t have to meet the ridiculous expectations of No Child Left Behind. The law has a requirement that all school children be considered “Proficient” in reading and math by 2013. Ignoring the ambiguity of “proficient”, just think about that goal. In 12 years time, by testing every student rigorously, and closing schools that underperformed, every student would become proficient in reading and math.

Of course, states get to determine what proficient means, they get to write the test, and they get to decide the rate of growth. So, states assumed a lot of back end growth. Over the first decade, there was a slow rise in expectations, culminating in sharp increases here in the last few years. That was why 30-40% of schools failed to meet expectations last year, and it is estimated that 80% will fail this year.

You can’t miraculously make every kid able to read and do math by testing them, taking away all of the fun parts of school so they can do more test prep, and not addressing any of the contributing factors. Education is a complicated issue that is intertwined with every other aspect of life. Assuming you can make everyone proficient in such a small amount of time just be demanding schools do so, is idiotic. NCLB does nothing to actually improve the educational experience or student learning.

So I, and many others, knew this day would come. Waivers so schools don’t have to meet the asinine requirements of the law are here because the law doesn’t work. Yet the law is still in place and no politicians are listening to any of the people with ideas on what to replace it with.